This is a link to the twenty-third in an ongoing series billed as 30 Day Challenge to save $1,000 by Ramit Sethi at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com, his blog on personal finance (banking, saving, budgeting, and investing) and personal entrepreneurship. His series outlines the various ways we can keep money in our pockets.

No, this is not an unusual tip, but I’m going to try to add some nuance to it besides “CREDIT CARDS ARE BAD!!!!!”

Ramit overviews the pros and cons of using credit cards — the pros, as he says, are that, used carefully and wisely, they can offer excellent consumer protection, substantial bonuses, financial automation, and an interest-free loan if you pay them off in time. Again, used well, they also help build your credit rating.

But it’s very easy to overspend with credit cards, and his tip is to experiment with going cash only for two weeks as an experiment. Ramit’s credit card had been stolen and he used cash only for two weeks while getting a replacement card operational. He found that he spent approximately 18% less because he was much more conscious of his purchases — the money was out of hand immediately.